Friday Finds for Writers

Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to read over the weekend.

  • I must admit that I agree with Susan Kushner Resnick: Nonfiction should be nonfiction (or, “what don’t you understand about the word ‘non’?”). But not everyone concurs. What do you think?
  • On the Virginia Quarterly Review blog, Bethanne Patrick discerns “the biggest danger to anyone’s writing”.
  • Another excellent post from Carol Tice, this time on “the deadly math mistake that will make your freelance business fail.” (In other news, I’ll confess that Carol’s new guest-post policy disappoints me, since I’m no longer eligible to pitch.)
  • I don’t have a regular professorial gig, but I can nonetheless commiserate with much of Cathy Day’s post, “For the Man Who Called Me for Advice About How to Get Published.”
  • Here is something that I know that I need to (re)consider: “How to Organize the Writing Samples on Your Writer Website.” Many thanks to the Renegade Writer blog for posting and urging that consideration along. (I somehow feel as though my own situation is complicated by the fact that in addition to the diversity of nonfiction that I write, I’m also a fictionist and poet. If you have examples of sites that negotiate this challenge well–including your own–please share, in comments.)
  • Have a great weekend, everyone. See you back here on Monday!

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish news, primarily of the literary variety, from around the Web.

  • A list of the latest children’s books to be translated from Hebrew to English. (via Makom)
  • I’m currently reading Michael Lavigne’s new novel, The Wanting, which The Forward reviewed this week.
  • Ellen Ullman’s sad and unsettling story, “Fathers,” is the latest installment in Tablet’s fiction series.
  • Ann D. Koffsky host the March Jewish Book Carnival.
  • My application to the Asylum International Jewish Artists Retreat was solicited last fall, but it wasn’t accepted. (Disappointed, I followed up with an email inquiry that was never answered.) But at least I’m able to get a glimpse into the event, which took place earlier this month, via Susan Reimer-Torn’s report for The Jewish Week.
  • Shabbat shalom!

    Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Five Highlights from AWP 2013

    AWPOn Saturday, I caught an early-morning train up to Boston and spent a lovely afternoon and evening at the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference. I was not a conference presenter; I was not a Bookfair exhibitor; I did not even register for the conference this year. But a wonderful (and generous) writer friend offered me a place to crash, so I decided to take advantage the event’s relative proximity to New York (and the complimentary Bookfair access granted to the public for Saturday only).

    As always, the time I spent catching up with friends–including folks I’ve met through previous AWP conferences and typically see only in those settings–was the absolute best part of being there. But here are five other highlights from my whirlwind visit: (more…)

    Friday Finds for Writers

    Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to read over the weekend.

  • People have been talking this week about freelancer Nate Thayer’s post, “A Day in the Life of a Freelance Journalist.” You can read an example of the discussion here. See also Jane Friedman’s take on “The State of Online Journalism Today: Controversial.”
  • Also a popular topic (at least among the folks that I follow on Twitter): Alex Nazaryan’s confession regarding a certain “bitterness” in his book reviews. Julia Keller’s piece on “The Reviewer Reviewed” has attracted far less attention (at least as far as I can tell), but for me, it’s at least equally important and instructive for those of us who write reviews and criticism in addition to our “own” writing.
  • Amen, sister! That’s my response to Writer Abroad’s “9 Things Not to Do as a Writer.”
  • In case you haven’t heard, there’s a little event for writers taking place in Boston at the moment. And in case you can’t be there in person (I’m popping in for a grand total of 23 hours starting midday tomorrow), you can always follow the Tweets!
  • Have a great weekend everyone. See you back here on Monday.